"Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."
-Romans 2:1
In my engineering ethics class we talked about the idea of subjectivity and objectivity. Immediately people in the class talked about how nothing can be objective, since everyone is subject to their own views and beliefs. I've written before about truth and whether it is relative or not. I concluded that it cannot be relative, because truth has to be consistent in order to be truth. The topic I want to talk about today is similar, just more in depth.
There are many things that are subjective, such as people's opinions. Some people like action movies, other like dramas, and still others prefer horror. These are all subjective views; there is no such thing as an objective preference of movie genre. However, when raised with the question of objectivity versus subjectivity, people often forget that there are things that are objective as well. For example, a movie is a movie, not a book. That is an objective statement, and there is no room for debate on that.
When talking about objectivity and subjectivity, the previous example was trivial. What people really want to know is whether there can be objectivity in morality. Is it possible that our morals are objective? Is there a definitive "right" and "wrong"? Or is everything relative to the individual? Many people these days would say that morality is subjective to a person. A person's morality is just a result of a person's upbringing. They argue that since everyone has a different set of morals that there cannot be any absolutes. Everyone should be allowed to decide their own moral standards.
While I agree that everyone has a different set of morals, I don't agree that this means that morality is subjective. As an example, think about the laws we have in our country. Take speeding for example. The law says that if you drive over the speed limit, you will be given a ticket (given that you are caught). That is an objective law- if you speed, you will be penalized. However, people might differ on what they believe regarding speeding. Some may think that you can go ten miles an hour over the limit and you don't deserve a ticket. Others may believe that speeding limits are ridiculous and shouldn't be a law. Regardless of what you believe, if you speed, you will be given a ticket. What am I saying with this example? People do have subjective views on morality, but there is objective morality.
So what is objective morality? I couldn't go into full detail, but let's start at the core of the issue; where does morality come from? I recently heard Ravi Zacharias pose this question, and his answer was fascinating. His answer was that there is no such thing as morality without purpose. Think about it; if I gave you a baseball bat, you know the purpose of the bat is to hit a baseball. However, if you use it to hit a person, you are violating the purpose of the bat. I think it is the lack of understanding of our purpose that causes people to misunderstand morality. If there is no clear purpose for our lives, then there is no way we can violate or fulfill our purpose. In other words, there is no way we can do anything "right" or "wrong". People can try to justify their morals, but in the end they can't really rationalize them. So what is our purpose? To "glorify God and enjoy Him forever".
-Smart
Priorities
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
-Matthew 6:33
The past couple weeks have been very difficult and stressful, both mentally and spiritually. School has been getting harder, and now that finals are right around the corner, I am very worried. I'm worried for the obvious reason that I have to take finals soon, but I am also worried that I've already entered the "summer break mode". It's very hard for me to find that sense of urgency for school, even though I know that finals are very near. I believe that this in part due to my spiritual life suffering. I haven't reading the Bible or spending quality time with God. I feel far from God, and I know that it is causing me to lose my sense of purpose in life.
Earlier today I was listening to Pastor Tony Evans on the radio on the way home from the gym. He was talking about reconciliation, and how there is both a vertical and horizontal reconciliation that we must understand. The vertical reconciliation is between us and God. Jesus has already done His part to reconcile us to Himself, we just have to accept Him. The horizontal reconciliation is between us and other people. Tony Evans stressed that we must have a vertical reconciliation before we can even begin horizontal reconciliation. He later talked about how our spiritual condition affects every part of our life.
One of the main ways we can see our spiritual condition is by taking a look at our priorities. I once wrote about stress, where I touched on the topic of priorities. Our priorities dictate much of what we do in our day to day life. For many people like myself, the top priority is to do well in school to ensure that their future will be comfortable. People with this priority tend to spend a lot of time studying, doing homework, and going to school. Once they begin to do bad in school, they begin to worry about their life. This is because they've placed their hopes into school, and they believe that by doing well in school later in life they will be fulfilled. Unfortunately, placing our priorities in school will only bring a lot of stress and worry.
The verse Matthew 6:33 says to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you". What is this verse telling us? It's saying that if we prioritize God our lives will begin to fall into place. We will have a new sense of purpose and fulfillment. Do you know what precedes Matthew 6:33? Jesus telling us not to worry. This is not a coincidence. Where we place our priorities will affect the rest of our life. If we don't prioritize our relationship with God, we will always worry. Putting God first places everything in perspective, and He will give us peace.
I've been meaning to write about a couple different topics on my blog, but I've been struggling to find the time and energy. I decided to write about this today because it's been on my mind and I wanted to re-prioritize my life. It's been hard letting God take first place in my life, because I've been so distracted by other things. I realize that this is having a negative effect on my life and is causing me to become lazy. I pray that God would help us to put Him back in the driver's seat of our lives.
-Smart
-Matthew 6:33
The past couple weeks have been very difficult and stressful, both mentally and spiritually. School has been getting harder, and now that finals are right around the corner, I am very worried. I'm worried for the obvious reason that I have to take finals soon, but I am also worried that I've already entered the "summer break mode". It's very hard for me to find that sense of urgency for school, even though I know that finals are very near. I believe that this in part due to my spiritual life suffering. I haven't reading the Bible or spending quality time with God. I feel far from God, and I know that it is causing me to lose my sense of purpose in life.
Earlier today I was listening to Pastor Tony Evans on the radio on the way home from the gym. He was talking about reconciliation, and how there is both a vertical and horizontal reconciliation that we must understand. The vertical reconciliation is between us and God. Jesus has already done His part to reconcile us to Himself, we just have to accept Him. The horizontal reconciliation is between us and other people. Tony Evans stressed that we must have a vertical reconciliation before we can even begin horizontal reconciliation. He later talked about how our spiritual condition affects every part of our life.
One of the main ways we can see our spiritual condition is by taking a look at our priorities. I once wrote about stress, where I touched on the topic of priorities. Our priorities dictate much of what we do in our day to day life. For many people like myself, the top priority is to do well in school to ensure that their future will be comfortable. People with this priority tend to spend a lot of time studying, doing homework, and going to school. Once they begin to do bad in school, they begin to worry about their life. This is because they've placed their hopes into school, and they believe that by doing well in school later in life they will be fulfilled. Unfortunately, placing our priorities in school will only bring a lot of stress and worry.
The verse Matthew 6:33 says to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you". What is this verse telling us? It's saying that if we prioritize God our lives will begin to fall into place. We will have a new sense of purpose and fulfillment. Do you know what precedes Matthew 6:33? Jesus telling us not to worry. This is not a coincidence. Where we place our priorities will affect the rest of our life. If we don't prioritize our relationship with God, we will always worry. Putting God first places everything in perspective, and He will give us peace.
I've been meaning to write about a couple different topics on my blog, but I've been struggling to find the time and energy. I decided to write about this today because it's been on my mind and I wanted to re-prioritize my life. It's been hard letting God take first place in my life, because I've been so distracted by other things. I realize that this is having a negative effect on my life and is causing me to become lazy. I pray that God would help us to put Him back in the driver's seat of our lives.
-Smart
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